Arcanum - GOG Version Now Win 7 Compatible

News from GOG that their Arcanum release is now Windows 7 compatible:

Time for the next surprise in the GOG.com's Holiday Celebrations. We're still working on adding Windows 7 compatibility to some of the games which have some issues with the newest operating system from big M. We're happy to let you know that Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura and Myst: Masterpiece Edition are now fully compatible with both 32 and 64-bit Windows 7. To get the latest, Windows 7 compatible versions of the games, you have to re-download and install them again.

More information.

i remember i was playing gog arcanum without any problem under win7. well, whatever.

I remember driving a car without ever crashing. What is this talk about car accidents?

yeah Me too. I downloaded and played but I added all the community patches— no way I would ever play the game without them anyway—so even with Win 7 compatibility— the game would be incomplete

Originally Posted by Paul.Illes
i remember i was playing gog arcanum without any problem under win7. well, whatever.

Here too - though the videos weren't working correctly for me. It was easy enough to find them and just play them.

Is the GOG version compatible with the Unofficial Arcanum community patch?

How do they do it ?

Originally Posted by Anarchosyn
Is the GOG version compatible with the Unofficial Arcanum community patch?

Yes, worked on 7 before too.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
How do they do it ?

I would imagine they re-write the appropriate binaries, much like Linux folks do to get games to run on that platform.

It's a lot of work though. I feel like I should go buy another game just to express my appreciation!

Yes, but then they must get access to the source-codes … And I doubt the publishers would grant them these rights …

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Yes, but then they must get access to the source-codes … And I doubt the publishers would grant them these rights …

I doubt they are allowed to hack the files themselves without the publisher's right to do so.. but it's possible to hack .exe's without the source code, they've done amazing things to Morrowind for example. They even managed to fix so that rain doesnt go through roofs in outdoor areas (this is not even fixed in Oblivion or FO3 i believe) + lots of other hardcoded stuff..

There are workarounds, cracks, code they can apply to the existing code (that's what the GOG wrapper is about, I think), etc. I believe sometimes they have source code access, but often not.

Anyway, adding Win7 compatibility doesn't necessarily mean they changed anything, just that they played it through on multiple Win7 machines with no issue. I think in Arcanum's case though some people were having issues, which should now be eliminated.

Someone indicated they had problems with movie playback. If that seriously was a problem all over Windows 7, a fix for it would be to update the Bink movie playback DLL. No re-writing executables! Does anyone REALLY think the GOG people do that? They often get rid of copy protection by using the warez scene crack, FFS. They don't re-write anything.

Originally Posted by lumiapina
I remember driving a car without ever crashing. What is this talk about car accidents?

Some people didn't know they shouldn't play while driving …